Christmas Wreath

   This Christmas I was feeling a little crafty, and a little cheap!  You see, last year the Hubby bought a beautiful fresh wreath that was about 3 feet across.  I really loved it!  We have a star hanging on the front of our house and the wreath fit over it just perfectly, just touching the tips of the star.  The hubby, without me knowing it, saved the frame of that wreath.  When we where talking about outside decorations for this Christmas, he mentioned that he still had the frame of the old wreath.  This got my creative juices flowing.  I decided I could craft a wreath that would last year for many years.

  First, I started with the frame of the wreath and 50 feet of artificial greens and some 20 galvanized steel wire.  I used the wire to secure the greenery to the frame, because with the wreath being out in the elements I felt I could fasten it more securely with wire than with glue.

   And then I started to wrapped, and then I wrapped and then I wrapped.  And then I tied it with wire and then tied it with some more wire.  No actually, I would wrap and then secure it with wire about every 3 - 4 inches.  It took about a half hour to wrap the first layer of greens.  At this point, I was not pleased with the fullness of the wreath.  I had picked up another type of greenery for a different project. so I used some of that and wrapped a second looser layer over the first.  I really liked the way it looked with both layers on it.

 

Now on to the fun part the decorating!  I was able to find a lot of the items I used at a florist shop that was trying to get rid of their Christmas floral items early in the season.  They probably didn't want to be stuck with a lot of leftover items at the end of the season.  I think for the 2 pinecone spikes and the one red spike was less than $12.00.  The silver flowers I got at a discount store for around $2.00.  I used a hot glue gun to put them on.  I did not skimp on the hot glue.  With the red bow, I used gorilla glue.  The reason I used different glue was because of the different material.  The bow was not liking the hot glue very much. The bow I had already had from a different project.  I had wanted a silver bow, but didn't find one I liked. 

 

  What do you think of it?

Love to all,   Sara

 

 

 

Operation Christmas Child Packing Party

 

Start of the pile of boxes

 

  I can't believe it has been almost a month already since we had our Operation Christmas Child packing party to church.  I want to give you a little background leading up to this event. A little over a year ago, I was elected to be the chairperson of our congregation's Mission and Outreach committee.  Before 2013, our congregation supported many different missions, but never really got behind any on thing.  Because of this, many in our church felt that they were being viewed as ATM machines.  We decided that we needed to select a few missions to concentrate our efforts on.

  Last December, around 15 youth and adults from our congregation went to an OCC processing center.  The experience really seemed to change those that attended event.  Us on the committee saw an organization we could really get behind and support.  We decided to collect items for the shoe boxes all year long, then on one Sunday in November after church we packed boxes.  We packed 138 boxes.  I think for doing it this way for the first time, we did great!!!

Last year when we just provided the boxes for individuals to pack themselves, we received 49 boxes.  We did almost 3x the amount of boxes this way.  We also learned a lot, like what to ask for and what NOT to ask for, also how to organize the tables for more efficient packing.  I do know everyone that attended was having a good time!!! :)
 

Me trying to give a few instructions before the chaos began!  lol

Busy selecting just the right things!

How does this shoebox look?

Everyone seemed to be having fun!

All ages were getting in on the packing!

Of course we had to add Christmas cards to the boxes!  That was my job!

Got one done!

 

  All totaled the hubby and I took 273 shoe boxes to the drop off center in a neighboring town.  This equals 273 children that will receive a Christmas present for the very first time and also hear about Jesus Christ, many for the first time also.  One other very important thing is that they will see that someone cares about them!  The feeling you get from doing this work is BETTER than any present you could ever receive.  

  To learn more about Operation Christmas Child click on this link Samaritan's Purse.  It is such an amazing program, one that has truly touched my heart!

Love to all,   Sara

The KRUD!!!!

 

 

 

  I have the KRUD!!!!  At least that is what everyone around here is calling this cold, respitory infection, sinus infection, migraine produceing, fever riddled junk that young and old are coming down with.  This is my second round of it and hopefully my last.  I am not eating or sleeping, just coughing and blowing my nose and walking around with a can of Lysol to try and disinfect everything I touch.  I don't want anyone else to get this!  I had thought I was over this after taking the first round of antibiotics the doctor prescribed, but oh no, come Christmas Eve morning I was back in the clinic again.  I couldn't talk and had a killer headache.  I made it through Christmas Eve but we went home early, around 8:30, usually we don't get home until 11:00 - 11:30.  Christmas Day, I stayed in bed all day.  The hubby and Bug went to Hubby's side of the family.  I am sorry I couldn't be there, but my FIL & MIL are older and not in the best of health.  I would hate to get them sick!  My sister was very nice and brought me a big bowl of soup & plate of leftovers from Christmas Eve, so I didn't have to worry about making food for myself.  I don't think I got out of my PJs until 4:00 in the afternoon.  I really detest being sick!  Especially at this time of year, when Bug has time off & we could be out doing fun things.  I haven't even been able to put away my Christmas presents yet.  They are by the tree, where I put them after they were opened.  Not a fun time in our household right now!!

  I hope you Christmas was much better and it found you all happy and more importantly HEALTHY!

Love to all,   Sara

Merry Christmas

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

 

 

Love to all,   Sara

 

 

Glitter Overload

   I am working on Christmas cards today.  I have decided one thing.  NEVER buy cards with glitter on them!  I am glitter from head to toe!

I think I will need to take at least 2 showers to get all of this glitter off!  I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas season!

Love to all,   Sara

Potato & Onion Storage

  I have a very small kitchen.  When we moved into this home 8 years ago, my hubby said one day we would build on and expand the kitchen, etc.  Well, I am still waiting for this to happen.  So until then I have tried to come up with some creative solutions for storage. 

One thing I recently did was have the hubby hang two wire baskets on my kitchen wall for my potatoes and onions.  I really had no place to store them, besides under the sink and we all know that is not the ideal place for potato and onion storage.  I got the idea after finding an old wire basket in the hubby's stash of "treasures" in the garage.  I loved the look of it and thought it would be perfect for potatoes or onions.  So I started to hunt for another one.  I came across these baskets at a local florist shop.  After the hubby convinced me that the original basket was to large for the wall and the place I wanted to hang it, I purchased two of these baskets.  They cost me less then $20.00 on sale.

I lined them with some leftover burlap, which I had from another project.  It worked out perfectly.

 

I love the way it looks!!!  Now I know immediately if I need potatoes or onions OR more importantly if either one of them are starting to go bad and need to be thrown away.  I need to THANK the hubby for hanging them up so securely, also.  Just today, I put over 15 lbs of potatoes in one of the baskets and it is staying up with ease.  One less thing I have to think about where I am going to store. 

Love to all,  Sara

Starting to look like Christmas

  It is starting to look like Christmas in the house, but we still have a long was to go!

Still a lot left to do!!!  Stay tuned!! 

Love to all,   Sara 

Nelson Mandela - R.I.P.

  Some of my favorite Nelson Mandela quotes.  He was such an amazing man.  He fought such adversity in his lifetime and he changed the world.  My he rest in peace. 


Mike Hutchings / Reuters


RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP / Getty Images


Chris Jackson / Getty Images


Mario Tama / Getty Images


Paul Gilham / Getty Images

Words to think about. 

Love to all,   Sara